AAAS
"Science as Way of Life" Theme of Annual Meeting

In a forceful address that opened the 2003 AAAS Annual Meeting in Denver, AAAS President Floyd Bloom challenged scientists to address a crisis in the U.S. health care system, arguing that the promise of breakthroughs in genetics and other areas of medicine would not be fulfilled without reforms.

"The current system can scarcely meet today's needs, let alone the costs of the transition to post-genomic medicine," said Bloom, who called for the creation of a National Commission to Restore the American Health System, noting that the United States spends more on health care per person than any other country, yet "no one is happy."

"While AAAS alone cannot drive such reform," Bloom added, "our commitment to advance science and serve society demands we seek such reform."

Bloom's talk, which was covered by dozens of science writers, including 12 from the United Kingdom, officially launched the 2003 Annual Meeting. The event, whose theme was "Science as a Way of Life," drew more than 5000 scientists and journalists to the Colorado Convention Center, from 13 to 18 February.

Researchers presented papers on climate change, space science, nanotechnology, neuroinformatics, biosecurity, and environmental threats to the world's oceans, as well as research that described the search for the genetic causes of Alzheimer's and schizophrenia, and the effect of stress on infants and its impact on emotional health later in life.
Among the scientists presenting new work was Jane Lubchenco, of Oregon State University, and former AAAS president, whose research demonstrates the inner workings of marine life in the coastal waters along the west coast of the United States, and suggests new ways of managing coastal regions.

Lubchenco said that for several years she has encouraged marine scientists to reveal their findings at the AAAS annual meetings, because the meetings draw scientists from a variety of disciplines, and because so many journalists cover the event.

The leadership of AAAS is working to make the annual meetings more diverse, not only in the science presented, but in the ethnicity, gender, and geographic origin of the researchers invited to talk about their work, according to Shirley Malcom, director of the AAAS Directorate for Education and Human Resources.

During a Women and Minorities in Science Networking Breakfast at the annual meeting, Erich Jarvis, a neurobiologist at Duke University and an African American, told a crowd of 150, including 30 reporters, that both kinds of diversity had played a role in the success of his research on songbirds capable of vocal learning.

"We benefited from the diversity of the sciences represented in our laboratory, but also from the diversity in the make-up of the people represented," said Jarvis, who released new findings that reveal a highly specialized pattern in the synthesis of gene products for certain brain receptors involved in cell communication--receptors that are also found in mammals.
Noted botanist Peter Raven, who was serving the last days of his role as chairman of the AAAS Board, told the group that the election of Shirley A. Jackson, a physicist and an African American, to the 2004 presidency of AAAS, "reflects a sea of change throughout the scientific community at large."

"This is a change that AAAS welcomes and wishes to further encourage," said Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden. "Just as diversity within the plant world supports a healthier ecosystem, diversity within the human population enriches our perspective and enhances our understanding of the world around us."